Conversation with a scam victim

A few months ago, I received the following from a scam victim – a very sweet disabled Native American woman – who ran across my blog. She had left a comment on the blog, obviously scared to death, telling me that she received an email saying she is going to be arrested by the FBI for not doing what they demand with regard to a financial transaction. I knew it was a scam, so I asked her to contact me privately and send me the email allegedly from the FBI, which she did. That email is below; she has given me permission to reproduce it here.

It quickly became quite clear that this poor woman had been repeatedly scammed, and bullied by scammers, over a long period of time.

I have removed all of the lady’s identifying information, obviously, for her protection. However, I feel it is of the utmost importance that everyone understand just how vicious scammers can become, how much they lie, how real their correspondence may seem to some, and what a horrible toll they take upon their victims.

DEAREST ELFNINO’S MOM:

HERE IS ONE OF THE LETTER THEY HAVE SENT ANS I HAVE LETTER UPON LETTER FROM DIFFERENT AFRICAN BANKS AND THIS ISN’T THE FIRST AGENT THERE ARE OTHERS DAVID MARKS, PAUL SMITH, GOERGE BENSON, OBI NAIYARTI,AND MANY MORE TO NUMEROUS TO COUNT AND THEN OUT OF THE BLUE A DR. CALLED ME FROM LONDON TELLING ME THAT MICHEAL ESCHOEZ A FRIEND OF MINE HAD DIED AND THEN HIS BANK WROTE ME TELLING ME HE LEFT ME A FUND HE PAID ALL THE FEES BUT NOW THE GREEDY BANK WANTS MORE FEES TO TRANSFER THE FUND THE DIRECTOR DAVID WALKER TOLD ME THEY WERE JUST WAITING FOR ME TO PAY THE HANDSHAKE FEES BETWEEN THE USA AND UK AND IT WOULD BE TRANSFER DIRECTLY TO MY BANK YOU SEE SOME TIME AGO MICHEAL USE TO SEND ME MONEY AND HAS ALL MY INFORMATION BEFORE HE DIED HE TOLD ME NOT TO WORRY ANYMORE HE WAS HAPPY HE COULD GIVE SOMETHING TO ME FOR MY FAMILY HE WAS VERY GOOD PERSON BUT ABBEY NATIONAL BANK ARE HOLDING THE FUND I GUESS NO MATTER WHAT EVEN WHEN THINGS ARE REALL THEY TAKE ADVANTAGE WHEN A PERSON LIKE ME WHO IS TO POOR JUST GETTING BY IS ASK TO PAY PROCESSING OF ANY KIND THEY KNOW WE DON’T HAVE ANY MONEY AND REFUSE TO DEDUCT IT FROM THE FUND THAT IS SUPPOSEDLY OURS ALREADY THAT IS WHY I DON’T BELIEVE ANY OF THEM ANYONE IT HURTS TO THINK I COULD HAVE FUNDS OUT THERE THAT MAYBE DO BELONG TO ME BUT I HAVE NO WAY TO PROVE IT OR EVEN GET JUSTICE MAYBE YOU WILL SHOW ME AWAY ! GOD BLESS YOU AND MAKE HIS FACE SHINE UPON YOU AND SHELTER YOU ALWAYS AMEN .

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR CARING ENOUGH TO ANSWER..

YOURS TRULY, [Name Redacted] 

— On Sat, 7/26/08, Federal Bureau of Investigations FBI <www.fbi.w.dc.gov@hotmail.com> wrote:

From: Federal Bureau of Investigations FBI <www.fbi.w.dc.gov@hotmail.com>
Subject: FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATIONS
To: [redacted]@yahoo.com
Date: Saturday, July 26, 2008, 12:48 AM

ANTI-TERRORIST AND MONETARY CRIMES DIVISION
FBI HEADQUARTERS IN WASHINGTON, D.C.
FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATIONS
J. EDGAR HOOVER BUILDING
935 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE, NW WASHINGTON, D.C. 20535-0001 
DATE: 07/25/2008

 

ATTENTION: [redacted]

FUND BENEFICIARY

 

    The content of your email was well understood, be officially inform that this is not a child play, you have to understand that we are doing our job, as a Federal Commission we are here to carry out our duties and obligations to protect the interest of these Nation. You are required to prove the legitimate of the funds you are about to receive by providing the required legal document to us.   

 

    As a Federal Commission we are here to protect your interest and the interest of all the American citizens as well as our great Nation at large. You has been investigated as the beneficial owner of the said funds that is why you are in touch with the FBI for a solid proof of ownership before the funds will be release to you.
  
   The said funds is now in Bank of America in your name which has been placed on hold under the custody of the FBI for further verification and proof before releasing the funds to you. 
 
   You do not have this document in your files, if you did the fund would not have been held. We did not believe this at first, but when we saw the transfer we had no option than to contact you.
 
   We have gone through your Identification record and  also the informations received from you, we have verified a lot of things about you. It has come to the attention of our Money Trafficking investigation department, that you have some funds valued at U.S $10.5 Million to your name, The said payment is awaiting adjudication and crediting to Name Redacted, this funds are from Inheritance ‘willed ‘ from C.B.N Bank Nigeria precisely.
 
   With full concern of The F.B.I and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) wish to remind you of the consequences of remitting such huge sums of money without complying fully with the provisions of the Financial and Allied Matters Decree 5 as amended in sub-section C (6) of 2003, which stipulates that any monitory transaction been done in the United States Of America, must have proper records, which duly guarantees and covers the transaction as legitimate and legally acquired and not criminally or terrorist associated funds. This is due to ongoing terrorist activities/economic crimes on and against the United States of America citizens. 
 
     Note that with the information’s we have here, the fund in your name here was release from Federal Republic Of Nigeria.  To this regard you are to contact the FBI Nigeria where the fund was release from so that they will issue you the legal required document because they are the only people in the position to issue you the needed document as the paying country. Nobody else have the right or privilege to issue you this document unless the FBI Nigeria. 

  
   You are under an observational /Investigation in connection with money laundering. If your funds comes from a legitimate and legal source, the proper guidelines for you to recover the right of transaction is for you to provide the official monitory transaction release document so that your funds will be legally processed/recorded and accounted for and then finally release to you. 
  
  FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION (ANTI-TERRORIST AND MONEY LAUNDERING DEPARTMENT) IS HERE to wipe out terrorism, and will stop at no length in doing our duty for the American people. 
  
    You have 48 hours to produce legal proof of the below frozen wired transaction number coded: 34567112 Name Redacted39AZQV9007 owned by a Name Redacted.

  
   You do not have any rights to receive these funds if the documented legal wire information is not complete. 

 

 

     For your own good and benefit, you are advice to be very careful, your email is been monitored by the FBI. It have come to our notice that you have been dealing with scammers regarding the present transaction in your name, with the power imposed on us as a high Federal Commission, you are hereby warn and instruction to terminate your involvement with any people or individual contacting you regarding this present transaction.

 

    The said funds is now under our custody in your name as the beneficial owner, your dealings should be channel to this office alone together with the FBI Nigeria for the legal required document, if we find out you are still communicating with Imposters you will be charge for advance fraud communication by the FBI Federal Law. Forward to us all the emails you received regarding the said inheritance.
  
  The very heart of the FBI operations lies in our investigations–which serve, as our mission states, ‘to protect and defend the United States against terrorist and foreign intelligence threats and to enforce the criminal laws of the United States.’ So follow our instructions properly to avoid any action before you. 

 

  We currently have jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal law. So you can see that we can track you down through Investigative programs. We have your address and the evidence and status of your wired funds, so we can arrest you anytime anywhere.

 

    You dont have the required document on your possesion, these document are only to be issue to you from the paying country NIGERIA, to this regards you are advice to contact the FBI NIGERIA to obtain the legal document from them to enable the immediate release of the funds in your name.
 
   We have done our verification on your FBI Identification Record with our Social Security Number, the only document left is the required Diplomatic Immunity Seal Of Transfer(DIST) Which should be issue to you from the paying country of the said funds, you are to contact the Federal Bureau Of Investigation(FBI) Nigeria to obtain the above required document, find below their contact information’s: 
 
Contact Office: Federal Bureau of Investigation Nigeria
Contact Person: Mr. Obi Hoppies   

Email: fbi.gov_nigeria11@live.com
Office Address: 72 western avenue victoria Island Lagos Nigeria.

Contact Tel: +234-8056838142
 
     Furthermore, be advice that according to the United State Law together with the FBI rules and regulations, you are to obtain the document from the FBI Nigeria where the fund was transfer from. Also Note that you are to take care of the Document to be issued to you right away, because due to the content of the document and how important and secured the document is, You are to take care of the document by sending to the FBI Nigeria the sum of $750.00 Dollars only for the issuing of the document right away. That is the only way the FBI Nigeria will issue you the document, because they are going to issue you the Authentic and Original copy of the document.
 
   You are here by advice to Contact them through the email address above to acquire from them on how you are going to send the fee to them. Note that you are to do this immediately if you really want your fund to be credited to your personal account and also if you don’t want any action to be fall before you. We have already informed the FBI Nigeria about the present situation, so go ahead and contact them immediately. Your fund is now on our custody and will not be release to you unless the required document is confirmed, After that the fund will be release to you immediately without any delay. 

 

    NOTE: We have asked for the above documents to make available the most complete and up-to date records possible for no criminal justice purposes.
    

WARNING: failure to produce the above requirement in the next 48 hours, legal action will be taken immediately by arresting and detaining you, justificated and if found guilty, you will be jailed. As terrorism, drug trafficking and money laundering is a serious problem in our community today. The F.B.I will not stop at any length in tracking down and prosecuting any criminal who indulge in this criminal act. FORWARD THE DOCUMENT TO US VIA EMAIL ATTACHEMENT AS SOON AS YOU OBTAIN IT.

 

Faithfully Your’s 

 

Special Agent,

Dr. Joseph George

Here is my response to this very frightened lady:

Dear Ms. [redacted],

This letter you have received is definitely NOT from the FBI, and definitely IS from a scammer. Hotmail is a free email service, and the email address is just one that someone made up to make them look real. A real FBI email would always end in fbi.gov; so, for example, if it came from John Smith at the FBI, the email address would be JSmith@fbi.gov, or John.Smith@fbi.gov

Also, notice that they have misspelled the name of the agency. It is “Federal Bureau of Investigation” (the last word is singular) NOT “Federal Bureau of Investigations” (last word plural). The FBI would never describe itself as a “Federal Commission”, because it is not a federal commission. It is an agency under the authority of the US Department of Justice. Please note that they do not speak as if English is their first language. The FBI would never send out a letter with so many errors, or which made it sound as if they are a foreigner. The FBI also would never be involved in a situation where they are giving money to someone, since that is beyond what they do. There is no FBI in Nigeria, either. Nigeria is a lawless third world country where scams like this are so common that they are actually known as “Nigerian scams”.

I could go on and on, but rest assured that this absolutely is not from the FBI or any other US agency. It is from a scammer trying to scare you into submission.

Beyond that, there is simply no way on earth that the FBI would ever threaten anyone in this manner, nor would they ever contact you by email at all over a criminal matter, or an investigation matter, unless you had contacted them first.

It is therefore completely safe for you to assume that ALL such emails are frauds. When you get them, you should send them to the real FBI through the Internet Fraud Complaint Center at http://www.ic3.gov

What you are describing is called “advance fee fraud”. If there really were money, they wouldn’t need you to pay anything, not even a dime. They would also already know everything about you, so they wouldn’t need you to give them any information, or any documents. They would simply take all fees out and then send it to you, and it works that way everywhere, including in other countries. If they tell you otherwise, or if they contact you by mail, email, or phone claiming they are going to give you a lot of money, they are lying. In the real world, if there were a lot of money which you had inherited, or that someone was going to just give to you, it would never, ever be handled this way. Instead you would get a real registered letter in the mail, certified and return receipt requested, from a law firm in the United States so you can look up their telephone number to make sure you really are calling a law firm. Scammers rarely use US registered mail (the kind with the green address card attached so you have to sign for it), because they can go to prison for it. Before you call anyone, make sure to call the operator to get the real telephone number (or look it up online at www.yellowpages.com). Only call the official telephone number, never a phone number you have been given by someone you don’t know.

Also, if you get certified mail but you don’t know who it is from, do not sign for it. The post office will be very helpful to you if that happens, because they have a responsibility to help protect people from mail fraud. If you get any packages you did not order, do not open them, and call whichever service delivered them – whether it’s the post office, UPS, FedEx, etc – to tell them you think it may be fraud. If you get any checks or money orders from someone you do not know personally, do not cash them, and do not deposit them. Scammers make up fake money orders and fake checks, then have people cash them and send them back part of it. However, since they are fake, they will bounce even after the bank says they have cleared, and you will be stuck holding the bag.

Even when these people seem to be talking about something real, or even if they call you on the phone, it is always, always a fraud. They are just very good at tricking people into believing what they say is true. For your own protection, do not talk to them at all. Do not write back to them, do not answer their emails, and since they are even calling you, change your telephone number. When you change your phone number, explain to the phone company that you are getting calls from scammers who are threatening you, so they will likely change the number for free. If you get anything in the mail, take it to the post office to make a complaint for mail fraud. You cannot get into any trouble for reporting them or ignoring them, even if they say you can. There never was any money, so you are not losing anything by reporting them or ignoring them. They are the ones breaking the law, not you.

You can also do a lot of damage to them by reporting them to their email server. When their email account is shut down, they can’t use it anymore, and any addresses they saved there will be deleted. To do that, you will need to include the full header. Simply click “forward”, and send it to the abuse email address for that server. The abuse email is always abuse@ so for emails which came from hotmail, you would send it to abuse@hotmail.com; from yahoo, you would send it to abuse@yahoo.com, etc.

This is how you add headers to the forwarded email:

On Yahoo mail, to the right side of the page right above the message itself, is the word “header” (it may say “compact header”). Click on that, and you will get a little menu. On that menu is “full header”. Click on “full header”, and a new page will pop up with a lot of information in it. Simply copy and paste (by highlighting everything in the pop up box with your mouse, then right-click and click on “copy”; move your mouse to the beginning of the email, and hold down the Ctrl and V keys at the same time.) You will then see what you have copied in the email itself, it will look something like what is at the bottom of my email to you (which is the full headers for the email you sent to me). Then, simply send it to the abuse address.

I am very sorry to hear that you are being harassed by these monsters. It really makes me angry at them, to see what they have done to you. May I post this on my blog, to warn others about this scam as well as how nasty these scammers will get? I will remove your information, so no one except us will know where I got it.

Best wishes,
ElfNinosMom

PS: Here is the example of a full header, so you will know what it looks like:

From redacted Sun Jul 27 00:01:02 2008
Return-Path:
Authentication-Results: mta305.mail.re4.yahoo.com from=yahoo.com; domainkeys=pass (ok)
Received: from [redacted] (HELO web51308.mail.re2.yahoo.com) (redacted)
by mta305.mail.re4.yahoo.com with SMTP; Sun, 27 Jul 2008 00:02:02 -0700
Received: (qmail 78848 invoked by uid 60001); 27 Jul 2008 07:01:02 -0000
DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; q=dns; c=nofws;
s=s1024; d=yahoo.com;
h=Received:X-Mailer:Date:From:Reply-To:Subject:To:MIME-Version:Content-Type:Message-ID;
b=3GxldQI6QySyPk9/yoHFiebcVf1QOUDLAGaJyysV5Oh1MylQ7rgFKQV13A2aTUi7EEVlhfprpg/iE1BNHEJKQajVkn8qCyzg5UfToijHTD44u7xNGYoZrbQIF6KdMeEEcRUzFizllkIEv7aYVGmHCa37Db0Pho0H3o5DgJifiS0=;
Received: from [redacted] by web51308.mail.re2.yahoo.com via HTTP; Sun, 27 Jul 2008 00:01:02 PDT
Date: Sun, 27 Jul 2008 00:01:02 -0700 (PDT)
From: redacted
Reply-To: redacted@yahoo.com
Subject: Fw: FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATIONS
To: Elfnino’s Mom
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=”0-961043474-1217142062=:78582″
Message-ID: <375005.78582.qm@web51308.mail.re2.yahoo.com>
Content-Length: 31569

Happily, she wrote back and seemed quite relieved to finally understand that she was being scammed, and what she can do about it.

DEAR ELFNINO’S MOM:
GOD BLESS YOU FOR SIMPLY TAKING THE TIME TO EXPLAIN TO ME THE IN AND OUT AND HOW NOT TO BE CAUGHT UP IN THIER SCAMS ONCE AND FOR ALL HOW TO FIGHT BACK… I HAVE A FEW YEARS LEFT AND I WOULD LIKE TO TURN AS MANY OF THESE BAD GUYS IN AS I CAN .. ESPECAILLY AFTER THEY HAVE TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF FAMILY AND FRIENDS OF MINE. MAY WE MARK A DENT IN THIER DAY HUH! I HAVE A GOOD FEELING ABOUT THIS BUT IF I RUN INTO OTHER QUESTIONES AT LEAST NOW I HAVE A FRIEND WHO TELLS ME THE TRUTH AND I RESPECT THAT GREATLY AS YOU CAN SEE I AM VERY SIMPLE AND HUMBLE SERVANT OF THE CREATOR AND BECAUSE I AM NATIVE AMERICAN I MAY NOT BE AS ANALITICAL AS OTHER PEOPLE BUT WHEN IT COMES TO INJUSTICE ON ANY SCALE I WILL NEVER GIVE UP UNTIL THE WRONGS I ENCOUNTER ARE CORRECTED SO MAYBE THIS WAS WHY YOUR ADDRESS STOOD OUT WHEN I READ THE OTHER POSTINGS IT MADE SENSE AND THE SPIRIT MOVED ME TO WRITE MINE EVERY LIGHT THAT SHINES EVEN IN THE DARKNES GIVES LIGHT TO SOMEONE ALONG THE WAY AND ENCOURAGES THEM TO SHARE THE LIGHT OF KNOWLEDGE WITH EACH OTHER THAT IS WHAT YOU ARE DOING FOR ME SO THANK YOU AND PLEASE IF YOU RUN ACCROSS ANYTHING ELSE FEEL FREE TO SEND IT PLUS I AM ON YAHOO MESSENGER AT NIGHT SAME EMAIL ADDRESS IF ANYTHING IS URGENT OR IMPORTANT LET THE CREATOR GAURD AND GUIDE YOU ALWAYS IN HIS PRECIOUS SPIRIT BE WITH YOU AMEN ….NEW FRIEND IN PEACE THAT PASSES ALL UNDERSTANDING YOURS TRULY Name redacted.

That one message from this one lady, who is empowered now that she has the tools and knowledge she needed to no longer be a victim, makes it all worthwhile.